The Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) will collaborate with security agencies to detect illegal LPG filing stations, among other plans to prevent gas tragedies.
- The authority will request for a National Intelligence liaison officer and DCI officers to track down criminals in the gas distribution sector.
- It will also engage the public prosecutor’s office to have its legal officers appointed as prosecutors.
- The heightened surveillance and prosecution plans will be combined with extensive public awareness campaigns on safety.
The energy regulator outlined its plans to prevent any future tragedies in its submissions to Parliament’s Committee on Energy. The committee is investigating the Feb 1st gas explosion in Embakasi that killed seven people and left hundreds injured.
EPRA will also update its LPG data verification process to ascertain the safety of the products from importation to retail.
In the report, EPRA identified the owner of the illegal LPG filling plant as Derick Kimathi and said it had declined licensing the facility three times over the course of five months in 2023. It rejected the application because the business did not provide a Qualitative Risk Assessment (QRA) despite being located in a residential area.
- Kimathi also owns Maxxis Nanyuki Energy, which was licensed to transport petroleum products (except LPG).
- The gas explosion was caused by a leaking gas tanker belonging to Klear Mwiki Gas Suppliers, which was licensed to transport LPG.
- The regulatory authority has since suspended both licenses.
Earlier, Cabinet Secretary for Energy and Petroleum Davis Chirchir had told the Senate Energy Committee that 138 LPG facilities across the country will be shut down because they did not exceed the technical audit score of 50%. He added that EPRA had already suspended 49 licenses of LPG plants located within a 200-meter radius of residential areas.
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